Slime "Skabs" are totally useless



drubie

New Member
Aug 30, 2006
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Avoid this product like the plague. Good old vulcanised patches might be a little messy, but at least they hold the air in the tube.

Worst part about the "skabs" is that they leave a gooey mess on the tube you have to clean up before you put a proper patch on it (usually 5 metres from where you put the skab on). The rubber glue solvent does a reasonable job of cleaning up the skab mess but it's painful.
 
See I go the other way on them. I carry one spare tube on a training ride and a handful of self adhesive patches, I've used a few including skabs (which don't seem any better or worse than others).

If I can patch the tube I'll usually do that on the side of the road and not have to worry about glue etc etc (if the tube is totally screwed I'll replace it). I've found typically that the self adhesive patches are good only for a couple of days. However, for the few hours of a remaining ride they've always been okay for me and allowed me to carry on. They've saved my ass on many occasions where I've ridden through **** and double punctured etc.

I get home and either bin the tube or patch it properly. A little petroleum ether takes the residue gum off in a couple of wipes.
 
sideshow_bob said:
See I go the other way on them. I carry one spare tube on a training ride and a handful of self adhesive patches, I've used a few including skabs (which don't seem any better or worse than others).
[deleted]

I get home and either bin the tube or patch it properly. A little petroleum ether takes the residue gum off in a couple of wipes.
I always carry a spare tube myself (except today dammit!). What's the secret to getting the damn skab to hold any reasonable pressure? After all the fiddling around, a quick normal patch seems just as fast, permanent and has less hassles longer term (i.e. you can just leave the tube in there without fixing it again when you get home).
 
drubie said:
I always carry a spare tube myself (except today dammit!). What's the secret to getting the damn skab to hold any reasonable pressure? After all the fiddling around, a quick normal patch seems just as fast, permanent and has less hassles longer term (i.e. you can just leave the tube in there without fixing it again when you get home).
Clean the talc off, shave off the mould line to smooth the patch surface.
 
I always carry two tubes. Except when I'm racing I then only carry one and some stick on patches.

I haven't tried the Slime ones but found the ones I do use good - for the ride home at least. I then repair the tube the next night(or whatever) properly with glue etc:)

Even if the Slime(or any other brand) work - they're only a quick fix it seems. I would hate to try to use them in the rain:eek: